FIL refused to return Russia: a blow was dealt to luge

“The motivation is to be in great shape and technically step forward in order to beautifully enter the international arena with fast equipment when all sanctions are lifted from us,” the world champion concluded.

Russian lugers were forced to miss the 2022/23 international season due to sanctions. The Winter Olympics will be held in February 2026 in Italy, the Olympic season will start in late November – early December 2025.

The FIL Congress took place over two weekends in Bucharest. Voting on the near future of Russian lugers, who a year ago at a similar congress were banned from participating in competitions (although the FSSR retained membership in the parent organization), did not go in our favor. And deafeningly not in our favor: 22 congressional delegates voted in favor of extending the suspension of the Russians, only one opposed, five abstained.

Russian lugers missed the whole last season, and now the next one is under threat. And luge has joined other “winter roads” that do not consider it acceptable at this stage to return Russia: to biathlon, skiing and skating.

The trend towards extending the suspension of our athletes in winter sports, despite the recommendations of the IOC, continues. There is nowhere for these international federations to hurry. And they do not even consider it necessary to try to put on a good face in case of a bad game. The Olympic four-year period, one might say, is at the very beginning of the journey, there is a lot of time before Milan 2026. And you can not even think that it will be embarrassing to somehow disobey the IOC and at least not pretend that everyone is equal in sports and there is no discrimination. And even more so about the qualification standards for Russia and Belarus: who the hell gave up on such a touching topic of the fate of individual athletes with a certain passport in the world space.

FIL, of course, did not begin to promise and put into practice not a special love (or rather, a special dislike) for Russia, not at this Congress. Although last spring, the sports world followed the precedent with hope: the FIL arbitration recognized the removal of Russian lugers as unlawful and canceled the decision on non-admission. Oh, what if the wave goes on and everyone finally admits: the suspension has no legal and at least some basis. And suddenly sports norms will start to steer, and not political ones?

But FIL itself immediately reacted sharply to the decision of its own independent tribunal and stated that it would look for ways to resolve the “unsatisfactory situation” caused by the arbitration decision. Who seeks will always find.

At the suggestion of the President of the International Federation, Einars Vogelis from Latvia, the way was indicated on how to deploy the decision of our own arbitration. The bylaws have been amended. And now – arbitration is not arbitration, and his word is not law. At least in a single case.

The justification for the current negative decision of the Congress of the International Luge Federation is as follows: the presence of Russian athletes at the competitions is associated with a high risk of violating the safety and integrity of the competitions and their participants. And not only athletes, but, of course, “coaches, instructors and other officials of the FSSR at competitions sanctioned by the FIL.” There is also an explanation: the risk is based on the personal participation of the named persons in FIL competitions and “cannot be prevented by a less drastic measure.”

One could, of course, joke about risk and champagne. But the topic is very painful. And, if we return to the exclusively sports component, then the personal participation of our athletes in international competitions is, to put it mildly, not an unnoticeable phenomenon. Russia is one of the leading countries in the sport, competition in the sleigh is our work. The gold of the last World Cup, for example, was mowed down by Germany – eight first places out of nine. So about champagne – not such a joke. The development of a sport is a common thing.

Three-time world champion Roman Repilov, like all experts who know the view from the inside, is sure that for luge, the removal of one of the top countries causes significant harm. Says, “The World Cup has become dreary.” In the sleigh, athletes have been learning to drive at high speeds along the tracks for more than a year or two, and the competition of the elite is of the densest nature in thousandths of a second. This is all the story of more than one day: I wanted to, practiced and rushed.

How long will the updated suspension be in effect? For now, this is the wording until further notice. Many believe that our athletes will be able to return to international tracks closer to the Olympic Games. Indeed, there are a lot of questions here. They may return, but the conditions are unknown, and the general situation in the future, too. And only one thing is certain: there are more than enough pitfalls, for example, in the form of scrutiny by commissions at federations of social networks of athletes and their belonging to certain clubs today. And athletes in this area cannot influence something.

And, if summer sports are pushing the selection for the Paris 2024 Games (although the decision on Russia’s participation in the Olympic Games should be made in July), then winter sports may not take any responsibility for now and remain outside the attack zone of unfriendly coalitions. And from this zone, too, but comfort, they will come out only because of severe necessity.

And in their field of training and results, the tasks for our lugers are very clear. Increasing your own level and technical improvement of the sled. To be able to work for a high result in the competitive conditions that we have now.

The president of the Russian Luge Federation, Natalia Gart, had no hopes for a positive decision of the congress. She said that it is unlikely that Russian athletes will be provided with acceptable conditions for participation in international competitions.

The head coach of Russian lugers Sergei Chudinov admits that everyone was mentally prepared for the decision, although one always wants to believe in the best. And even now it is impossible to say with absolute certainty that the next international season is completely lost, because there is still a lot of time before the first stage of the World Cup. And the next meeting of the FIL Executive Committee will be held in mid-September.

And as our representatives note, working relations in FIL have even improved, there is an opportunity to participate in the work of the congress. But the suspension itself, of course, did not come as a surprise: a version of the internal calendar without international starts was being prepared.